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* * * * EDITORIAL * * * *
I've just put back together all the bits that go to make up a
Sam system, for the second tome in a fortnight. These All Format
Shows are getting a little close together at the moment, and it
seems that every weekend we have to pack up for another one.
I've only got to whistle now and the Sam will jump into it's
carrying case ready!.
On top of this I am working on issue 11, plus a couple of things
to do with Samcos mouse. There just aren't enough hours in the
day sometimes. On the same subject, I hope you will forgive any
spelling mistakes or bad grammar in this issue. Normally our
good friend and team member Les Philips, checks all the text
over for us, but Brian is away next week, so I need to get this
issue down to him, and there is just not enough time to send
them to Les and get them back. So Les cannot be held responsible
for the text in this issue.
If there is time, you should find a couple of show reviews plus
a first impression of both Samcos and Blue Alphas mice (mouses?)
in this issue. We hope for more in depth reviews in future
issues, but I only got them a few days ago, at the show.
I have now got 2 months where there are no All Format Shows, so
hopefully I may be able to catch up a little, (but I doubt it!).
Please keep sending in your programs etc. I am especially
interested in PROCedures for use in your own programs, also
letters, hints, tips, cheats would be very welcome.
I'll now leave you to get on with reading the mag, and wish you
all, all the best.
Dave (Editor)
From Derek Burn
Dear Dave,
I read with great interest the review of OUTRYTA by Peter Bell
and Frank Harrop that appeared in issue 8. From my own somewhat
limited experience with the program, I agree with most of what
was said about it, although I find that the lack of an 'insert'
mode, and the ability to modify the printer control codes,
particularly irritating. On balance however, I would sum it up
as a fairly competent implementation of a Tasword Two
look-alike. Its major advantage is of course that it is designed
for the Coupe, thus avoiding the need to refer back to the
Spectrum from time to time; it also takes advantage of some of
the features of the Coupe not present on the Spectrum.
Having said that, is it a sufficiently professional and worthy
product for the Coupe? I think not. Before acquiring a Coup{ I
had been using a Spectrum Plus Two/Disciple set-up with Tasword
Plus Two. By taking full advantage of the extra memory available
with the Plus Two (and also with the Spectrum Plus Three),
Tasman had produced a product which is streets ahead of Tasword
Two and one which can claim to be a truly professional tool.
Even if one does not wish to use some of its more advanced
capabilities, surely no current word processor can afford to be
without them. Indeed, I would maintain that Tasword Plus Two
represents the minimum acceptable standard for a machine as
advanced as the Coupe.
Given that the basic Coupe has 256K of memory, we should
therefore be entitled to expect a product offering at least
similar features to Tasword Plus Two (or Tasword Plus Three),
and probably much more as well. Indeed, a product comparable to
Tasword PC is not asking too much, particularly if one considers
the 500K that many owners are likely to have available.
Given their proven expertise and professionalism, I'm sure that
Tasman are the best qualified people to produce such a piece of
software. Unfortunately, when I last spoke to them, they
appeared to be somewhat disinterested. Surely it is about time
that they recognised that the Coupe is here to stay, that it is
going from strength to strength, and that it is crying out for a
word processor worthy of it.
________________________________________________________________
FROM :- JOHNATHAN SWAN MEMBER NO: 200 (EXCEPT THAT MY LAST
8 PIPER ROAD ENVELOPE SAID
OVINGHAM SOMETHING ELSE)
NORTHUMBERLAND
NE42 6AX TEL:(0661) 33646
Dear Dave/Brian,
Thanks for the last 8 supplements, I'll have some more please.
The main reason for writing is to renew my subscription, but
while I'm writing, I have sent 3 prorams, this letter and some
hints and tips.
My sam setup now is:SAM Coupe 512K, 1 disk drive, MasterDOS21,
New rom etc., I have lerm's SAMTAPE 4 as well. I also have a
spectrum +2 (ok, so it's my sister's, but it might as well be
mine).
The three programs included are (yet) another version of
samscratch - I wrote this quite a while ago, but it contains a
lot of the modifications sugested by F.Harrop in issue 8, and I
have rearranged the system of inputting commonds to my own
preference. it now has been modified to be a fast as version 2.3
SAM CHECKUP does exactly that.
The other program is much shorter than samscratch 3, and is a
masterdos file menu program to save as auto - there has been
another one a bit similar, but mine works in a different way,
and does a different job (in a way).
see prognotes for further details of these.
In issue 8, Dr. wright asked us to tell him of all the bugs we
found in masterdos. mine is a very recent version (peek dvar 7
gives 41), but I think I might have found a bug of some sort -
although, I might have just done something wrong. What happened
was I was backing up a disk to a ramdisk (in the 512k memory),
and that worked fine as I backed up usind copy "d1" to "d3"?,
and therefore had enough room for all the files I wanted in the
ramdisk. but when I did backup "d3" to "d1" to copy all the
selected files to a different disk, the disk was corupted, and
when I tried to load a file, I got "end of file" errors. then
the program corrupted - giving question marks etc in the listing
and resetting when I tried to do anything about it. I think this
might have something to do with the fact that ramdisks have
different amounts of tracks than floppy disk, but this is a
guess. I didn't lose anything, because I just used copy "d1" to
"d1"? after, but it gave a lot of disk swops.
I am currently writing two or three programs, including a game,
and I will send them in if they turn out to be good.
note: my name is not J.L.Swan, it is Johnathan Swan (no
middle name), but I often shorten it to J.Swan, but in my
address, I use J.swan (Jnr) as my dad is called John and often
gets my letters.
thanks for listening, and keep up the good work on the mag.
yours,
J.Swan(Jnr - sometimes)
PS. I ALSO HAVE AN ACORN ELECTRON, AND IF ANYONE CAN SELL ME A
POWER SUPPLY UNIT (21 VOLTS - FOR PLUS 3 DISK INTERFACE), AND/OR
A TV LEAD FOR IT, PLEASE (PLEASE PLEASE) PHONE ME.
A letter from Brian Mumford
(Mag distributer and general dogsbody)
Dear readers,
I have to report that since I last wrote to you
that our membership is now fast approaching 350,with members in
New Zealand,South Africa,Germany and many other countries,This I
am sure you will agree is not bad going for a mag that is not
yet one year old,but I am sure that there are lots of other Sam
owners out there who have not heard of the Supplement,if you
have a Sam owning friend,why not do him or her a favour and show
thenma copy of the mag, and tell them where they can get a copy
I am sure they will be forever grateful to you,for enhancing
their lives.
We have been at all the ALL FORMAT SHOW's up to now
and have had great pleasure in meeting a lot of you and been
able to put a face to a name, also we have met and enrolled some
new members.
In the winter when the shows start again we intend
to be at three of the shows so far planned,and will consider any
new venues as they are announced, our plans are as follows we
intend to be at the London show in September (Sept 7th) and the
Birmingham show in November (Nov 10th) and the Christmas show in
London (Dec 14th) so why not come and say hello,and bring your
friends.
Best wishes,
Brian
________________________________________________________________
From : Dave Ison
Dear Ed.,
Just to say that I found myself in broad agreement with
Frank Harrop who wrote in the last Supplement. I recall
writing, as a tail end to an article about Wordmaster DTP, that
the mind of Sam had yet to be stretched by any "serious stuff".
As Frank says , the majority of the material is ported Spectrum
software.
As yet we have no wordprocessor that matches Tasword
Three,(probably because this will not port through as far as I
know), no DTP to match Wordmaster. Dave Hall has written an
excellent modification of Vu-Calc, allowing for printing of
selected parts of the sheet. But again: its a Spectrum program
underneath.
Its nice to see GM Software producing Data-Bases and
spreadsheets for the Coupe, and I understand that SC_FILER is an
excellent Data-Base. One of my hopes has come true in that I
understand that Pipedream, as used on the Z88 and Archimedes is
being written for the Sam by Dansoft.
This, it seems to me, is the only way the computer can evolve,
through simple programs related to the Spectrum at first (arent
most of us ex.Spectrum users?), then with a growing following,
onto more Sam specific things. Its this growing following that
will either spell Sams success or failure. "Hardware", as
someone once said, "sells software". I know, the opposite is
also true, but the point I'm making here is that software Houses
have to make a living , and won't write expensive to produce
software without the prospect of profits. I agree that we should
badger such firms as Cambell Sytems and PCG, but until they
feel that profits are forthcoming from a large market......
Perhaps we should also sing the praises of Sam to as many people
as possible.
One thing I certainly would like to see available are some
books on the Coupe, explaining how to program perhaps,
especially the more advanced features. Dave what about it? The
handbook is O.K but seems to expect us to have been through the
Spectrum school first. Fine for the current users if my earlier
point was right , but what about newcomers? Perhaps we should
get onto some publishers?
I'd also like to see a BBC emulator for the Sam. Thre are a lot
of schoolchildren who have some familiarity with that machine,
and this might be yet another way of increasing sales.
________________________________________________________________